Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a coronavirus.
The COVID-19 public health emergency of international concern ended in May 2023, after originally being declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) in January 2020.
COVID-19 remains a global health threat.
It still places a burden on healthcare systems and individual people whose immunity has decreased with time.
For information on other public health threats, see:
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, EMA has sought to expedite the development of effective medicines and vaccines against COVID-19.
During the public health emergency, EMA ensured the assessment and safety monitoring of COVID-19 medicines were prioritised, so that patients in Europe could access high quality, safe and effective medicines.
EMA worked closely with its partners in the European medicines regulatory network and the European Commission to take quick and coordinated regulatory action across all EU Member States.
EMA remains fully committed to supporting the EU response to the COVID-19 threat and ensuring that new or adapted vaccines and therapeutics can be made available as needed.
Read a report summarising the European medicines regulatory network's response to the COVID-19 public health emergency.
A personal account by EMA's former Deputy Executive Director, Noël Wathion, on EMA's measures to address the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic is also available below:
Information on COVID-19 treatments and vaccines is available from EU / European Economic Area (EEA) Member States in their national languages. For a full list of COVID-19 resources from across Europe, see: